by Tony Platt & Chase Burton* While a great deal of attention is being paid to Trump’s possible impeachment or removal and to his unvarnished bigotry and bombastic rhetoric, his government is transforming carceral policies at the state as well as the federal level. Whether it’s President Trump or President Pence in the White House, the […]
Author: Social Justice
#MeToo, Rape Culture and the Paradoxes of Social Media Campaigns
by Bianca Fileborn & Rachel Loney-Howes* The allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault perpetrated by Harvey Weinstein led to a powerful and widespread social media campaign, with Twitter and Facebook feeds flooded with the hashtag #MeToo. Within 24 hours, at least 4.7 million people made over 12 million posts. Individuals from around the world […]
Recovering Dignity: An Indigenous Woman’s Independent Campaign for Mexico’s Presidency
by R. Aída Hernández Castillo* An extraordinary phenomenon is taking place in Mexico: an Indigenous woman representing an Indigenous Governing Council has launched a campaign to run as an independent candidate for the nation’s presidency in the 2018 elections. In a racist and machista country, where electoral parties monopolize the political spaces and social imaginaries, […]
On the Brink of an Authoritarian Turn: The Catalan Uprising
by José A. Brandariz, Manuel Maroto, and Cristina Fernández-Bessa* Spanish conservatives have not ever been interested in winning over their political contenders, they are just interested in defeating them. Guillem Martínez, journalist and writer The resurgence of the Catalan independentist movement, recently culminated in a successful referendum for independence and its subsequent overturn by the […]
US Standoff with North Korea: Why Talk Is the Only Realistic Option
by Gwyn Kirk* Military tensions between the United States and North Korea have intensified to alarming levels in recent months. Trump has threatened to “totally destroy” this isolated nation of 25 million people, and to “unleash fire and fury like the world has never seen,” calling Kim Jong Un “Little Rocket Man” and telling Secretary […]
Outsourcing the Refugee “Crisis”
by Julia Morris* Nauru, the world’s smallest island state, located in the Equatorial Pacific, has again catapulted onto the international trading scene. US officials have almost completed their vetting of up to 1,250 refugees, a deal brokered between President Obama’s administration and the Australian Turnbull Liberal Coalition. Under the deal—a “dumb deal” President Trump later […]
After the French Elections, Where Do We Stand?
by Bernard Dreano* In France, the unexpected and seemingly decisive victory of Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche! (The Republic on the Move!) and its allies, first in the presidential race, and then in the June parliamentary elections (winning 350 seats out of 577), means that the government is settled. But the political situation remains […]
Britain’s Bernie Turns the Populist Tide?
by David Edgar* Whisper it softly, but Britain may have turned the global political tide. To understand the extraordinary political events of the last few days, it’s necessary to grasp a little history. Seven years ago, in the immediate wake of the financial crisis, the electorate rejected the mildly left Labour government (led by Tony […]
Politics on Empty Stomachs: Palestinian Prisoners Demand Dignity and Self-Determination
by Smadar Ben-Natan* Amidst President Trump’s visit to Israel this Monday, a Palestinian general strike of three hours and clashes with Israeli military forces were meant to express Palestinian Solidarity with hunger striking prisoners and help achieve their demands. Few prisoners’ mothers also declared a hunger strike. As President Trump left the Middle East after […]
Insurgent Politics against Authoritarian Neoliberalism
by Alessandro De Giorgi* In a much-quoted segment from the Prison Notebooks, Italian communist intellectual Antonio Gramsci outlined his famous definition of a crisis of hegemony: If the ruling class has lost its consensus, i.e., is no longer “leading” but only “dominant,” exercising coercive force alone, this means precisely that the great masses have become […]